Kari Trumbo

Review of Deadly Yellowstone Secrets by Kari Trumbo. Tamala does not like people shooting at her favorite bear in Yellowstone. She saw poacher and he is out to kill her because she can identify him. Clint Jackson is a Park Ranger and comes up on poacher shooting at Tamala. This story keeps you reading as danger mounts. Tamala and Clint are fighting to survive. God protects them several times. I recommend Kari's book. But you will be sitting on edge a lot. There is romance, danger, suspense and more. Tamala loves researching bears but she isn't sure if she should continue after all she is ensuring. Well worth the read.… (más)

Escaping the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska in 1881, Rose and Pete travel to Kansas to start a new life. Life outside of the reservation is different, and as Rose quickly learns, so is Pete. Unable to agree about who to trust and how to move forward, their friendship is put to the test. Pete has always been there for Rose in the past, and she doesn’t understand what has changed. All she knows is that she can’t go back to the reservation.

Sadly, I had a very difficult time finding much of value in this short story. As a male romantic lead, Pete had some serious issues. And while that alone isn’t a problem, for me to care about the relationship between these two, he really needs to have some kind of redeeming qualities. He doesn’t–at least, not in my opinion. He’s stubborn and hot-headed, treats Rose like dirt, and essentially feels that the simple fact that he loves her and has helped her a lot in the past should be all that matters. Even when he has a change in attitude, all Rose has seen from him since they left the reservation is his sulky, jealous attitude, so frankly…the romantic climax just fell flat for me.

Morgan is probably the character with the most depth, but he’s treated badly–both by the characters and by the author. I feel like a decent attempt was made with Rose, but the relationship stuff she had to deal with just made her seem weak and cliche. Overall, I think the story suffered a lot from being so short. The heart and attitude changes that Pete went through, had they been fleshed out far more, and had he really been given the chance to show Rose that he’d changed, would have made the story so much better.

The writing style was easy to follow, but the dialog was way too modern at times. And in the second half of the novel, the editing seemed to just fall apart. I noticed a lot of grammatical errors, and that really detracted from the story.

The story is the beginning of a series, the books of which (all stand-alones, from the looks of it) get longer as the series goes. This one is Kindle-only, and looks like it came out after the rest of the series. The title doesn't really fit the book, in my opinion, which may have just been an attempt to keep it in the theme of "wedding vows" that the series has going for it. And this is yet another time where I feel like I read a different book from everyone else, because most of the other reviews are 4-5 stars. Please be sure to check some of them out if the book interests you. As for me, I don't plan to continue this series.… (más)

Operation Return, by Kari Trumbo, is the second book in the Wayside Ranch series. This story takes over where the previous one ended, so it is best to read these books in order. The author does a fantastic job of writing this book and giving background information, so this book is also a good stand alone story. This story is filled with action and suspense with touches of romance. I enjoyed how this story focused on multiple thing happening at the same time and how they all tied together in the end.

I especially enjoy how the men working at the ranch are encouraged to correct a mistake they made in their past. For Cole, it was reaching out to the girl, Erica, he left behind when he enlisted in the military. Erica is struggling to raise their son by herself. Her son is her priority and that has resulted in another job loss.

I also enjoy how the story brings back characters from the earlier books and the work they are doing. I look forward to reading he rest of the series.

I voluntarily received a complimentary copy of this book from the author, this is my honest review.… (más)